Dear Sir
I have spent some hours during the last few days in examining with the greatest possible interest your Peas.2 After all, I could not resist your very kind offer, & have kept one pea out of the packets marked 7. 10. 11. 12. 13. & the purple pea No. 14. I never saw anything more curious than the lots 12 & 13. Will you have the kindness to look at the pod of No. 13, & you will see that the rim close to the suture is red; pray tell me whether you think this has been caused by the pollen of the purple pod.—3 These two cases & that of the purple pea are truly wonderful; the others are less striking But I observe in lot 1 (except one pea) & in a lesser degree in 2, & in 3. 5. 6. & 8 that the crossed peas are smooth like the paternal stock, & not wrinkled & cubical like the mother pea— Can this loss of wrinkling be due to mere variation, or to the effect of some peculiar culture, or is it the direct result of the pollen of the father? I should be grateful for an answer on this head— I know I am rather unreasonable, but I should be very much obliged if you would write a single word in answer to 3 queries on the enclosed paper.4
You ask me to return some peas next season; but I had intended planting them at once as I want now to observe some points in their growth; I should keep them in the greenhouse, but whether they would seed there I do not know. Hence if you are anxious about the product I must delay my observations & I will not sow till I hear again from you, I will take care that no one gets any seed if my plants seed.—5 I shall send a servant to London on Wed mg. & he shall that day book & pay carriage for the box to Stamford—6 I will enclose your list in it— Pray accept my cordial thanks for your very great kindness—
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin
P.S. Many thanks for your answer about the Gooseberry.7
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5267,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on